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Meryl Davis
Meryl Davis (born January 1, 1987) is an American ice-dancer. Her partner is Charlie White. Early Skating Career Meryl began skating at the age of five on a local lake in the winter. She started out as a single skater, but began doing ice dance at the age of eight. She got as high as Midwestern sectionals in novice ladies before quitting singles to focus on ice dancing. She was teamed up with Charlie White by her coach, Seth Chafetz in either 1997 or 1998. In their first season together, Charlie and Meryl won the silver medal at the Junior Olympics in the Juvenile division. In the 2000–01 season, they qualified for the 2001 U.S. Championships, placing 6th as Novices. The next season, they won the silver medal as novices and moved up to Junior. They did not win a medal at either of their two Junior Grand Prix assignments and they placed 7th at the 2003 U.S. Championships in their junior debut. Junior Skating Career In the 2003–2004 season, Meryl and Charlie won their sectional championship and then won the junior silver medal at Nationals. This earned them a trip to the 2004 Junior Worlds, where they placed 13th. In the 2004–2005 season, Meryl and Charlie won two bronze medals on the ISU Junior Grand Prix series. However, Charlie broke his ankle before Sectionals, so they were unable to qualify for the 2005 U.S. Championships which ended their their season. In the 2005–2006 season, they medaled at both their Junior Grand Prix events and placed second at the Junior Grand Prix Final. Charlie & Meryl won the junior national title at the 2006 U.S. Championships and then won the bronze medal at the 2006 Junior Worlds. Following that season, Charlie aged out of Juniors. They lost some training time after Charlie broke his ankle at a hockey tournament in 2006. Senior Skating Career 2006–2007 season In the 2006–07 season, Meryl and Charlie made their debut both nationally and internationally as seniors. They placed 4th at both their 2006–07 ISU Grand Prix assignments. At the 2006 NHK Trophy, they became the first team to earn all level fours on their elements. At the 2007 U.S. Championships, they won the bronze medal at the senior level, qualifying them for the 2007 World Championships. They are the first team since Tanith Belbin & Benjamin Agosto to go directly from winning the Junior national title to making the World team. They also qualified for the Four Continents Championships which took place before Worlds and they placed fourth. At the World Championships, Meryl and Charlie placed 7th, the highest debut placement for American ice dancers at Worlds since 1980. 2007–2008 season Meryl and Charlie placed 4th at the 2007 Skate America and then went on to win their first Grand Prix medal at the 2007 Trophée Eric Bompard. They completely revamped their Eleanor Rigby's "Eleanor's Dream" free dance before the 2008 U.S. Championships due to its poor reception. They won the silver medal at the competition, one spot up from the previous season. They also won silver at the 2008 Four Continents and were sixth at the 2008 World Championships. 2008–2009 season In the 2008–2009 season, Meryl and Charlie won their first Grand Prix assignment, the 2008 Skate Canada. In their second assignment, the 2008 Cup of Russia, they placed third in the compulsory dance but were eighth in the original dance after Charlie fell twice and stumbled on twizzles. They recovered in the free dance, placing second in the segment and moving up to win the bronze medal, which together with the gold from Skate Canada was enough to qualify them for their first Grand Prix Final. At the 2008–2009 Grand Prix Final, they won the bronze medal. Davis/White won gold at the 2009 National Championships, after reigning champions Belbin/Agosto withdrew due to injury. They won by a 20-point margin over silver medalists Emily Samuelson\Evan Bates. In February of 2009, they won the ice dance title at the Four Continents Championships, placing second in both the compulsory and original dance behind training mates Tessa Virtue / Scott Moir but winning the free dance. At the 2009 World Championships, they placed 4th. Even though they placed third in both the original and free dance portions, they lost too much ground in the compulsory to overcome training mates Virtue and Moir for the bronze only .04 points separated 3rd from 4th. 2009–2010 season Meryl & Charlie competed at the 2009 Nebelhorn Trophy, finishing first in all the segments of the competition. Overall, they won the gold medal with a score of 200.46 points, 30.87 ahead of silver medalists Alexandra Zaretsky\Roman Zaretsky. They also won the 2009 Rostelecom Cup and the 2009 NHK Trophy which qualified them for the 2009–2010 Grand Prix Final. At the Grand Prix Final, they won the original dance and placed second in the free dance to win the title overall, becoming the first American ice dancers to do so. At the 2010 National Championships, Meryl & Charlie won their second national title. They beat former training partners Belbin/Agosto, the first time they had ever done so, and led through all portions of the competition. At the 2010 Winter Olympics in Vancouver, Canada, Meryl & Charlie placed second to Canada's Virtue/Moir, winning silver. They skated a personal best in the free skate portion of ice dancing, garnering a score of 107.19 and received a personal best total score of 215.74. They also won the silver medal at the 2010 World Championships. 2010–2011 season Meryl & Charlie were undefeated in their 2010–2011 season. For the 2010–11 ISU Grand Prix season, they were assigned to the 2010 NHK Trophy and to the 2010 Skate America. They won NHK with 66.97 points in the short dance and 98.24 in the free dance, for a total of 165.21 points. Following NHK, they decided to make some adjustments to their free dance. At Skate America they earned 63.62 in the short dance and 93.06 points in the free dance after both fell, with their nearest rivals also having a fall. They earned an overall total of 156.68 and the gold medal. Their results qualified them for the 2010–2011 Grand Prix Final where they successfully defended their title, scoring 68.64 in the short and 102.94 in the free for a total of 171.58 points. They won their 3rd consecutive national title at the U.S. Championships held at Greensboro, North Carolina. They earned 76.04 points for their short dance and 109.44 points for their free dance scoring a total of 185.48 points. At the 2011 Four Continents Championships, Charlie & Meryl placed second to Virtue/Moir in the short dance. The Canadians later withdrew from the free dance. They went on to win the free dance and the title with a total of 172.03 points. At the 2011 World Championships, they placed second in the short dance by 0.53 points with a score of 73.76 points. In the free dance, they placed first with a score of 111.51 points, the highest free dance score that season. Overall, they won the gold medal with a score of 185.27, beating reigning Olympic and World champions Virtue/Moir by 3.48 points. This was the United States' first ice dancing World title. 2011–2012 season For the 2011–2012 season, Meryl & Charlie were assigned to two Grand Prix events—2011 Skate America and 2011 Cup of Russia—having declined a newly introduced option to compete in a third. They announced their music selections in August, including "La Strada" for their free dance, but in October, they announced a change to "Die Fledermaus". Meryl & Charlies won gold at Skate America, with 70.33 points in the short dance and 107.74 points in the free dance. They were 21.78 points ahead of 2nd place team Nathalie Pechalat\Fabian Bourzat. At the 2011 Rostelecom Cup, the couple improved with a total score of 179.06 despite a small stumble in the short dance. They placed 17.88 points ahead of 2nd place team Kaitlyn Weaver\Andrew Poje. Their placements qualified them for the 2011–2012 Grand Prix Final where they placed first. The two would later become silver medalists at the 2012 Four Continents Championships and 2012 World Championships. However, at the 2012 World Team Trophy, they edged Virtue/Moir by 5.6 points, and Team USA won the silver medal. Following Igor Shpilband's dismissal from the Arctic Edge Arena in June 2012, Davis/White decided to remain at the rink with Marina Zoueva and ended their collaboration with Shpilband. 2012–2013 season For the 2012–2013 season, Meryl & Charlie were assigned to compete at 2012 Skate America and the 2012 NHK Trophy, winning gold in both events. In December of 2012, they set a record by becoming the first team to win four Grand Prix Final titles when they came in first in both the short and free dances. In January of 2013, they won their fifth consecutive National title, tying for the U.S. ice dance record. They set U.S. scoring records in both the short and free dances. They continued their undefeated season winning the gold medal at the 2013 Four Continents, despite a small bobble that left them in second in the short dance portion. They won the free dance ahead of Virtue/Moir. Then at the World Championships in March, they again defeated Virtue/Moir to win their second world championship title, breaking their previous world records in both the short dance and combined total. 2013–2014 season Meryl & Charlie worked with Derek Hough and Alex Wong on their programs for 2013 and 2014. On February 5, 2014, the pair appeared among five other Olympians in a one-hour special on NBC television, "How to Raise an Olympian." During the team event at the 2014 Winter Olympics in Sochi, they earned 20 points in two first-place finishes for the U.S. team, which was awarded bronze medal overall. Meryl & Charlie posted record scores in both the short program and freedance and were awarded the first Olympic gold medal for Americans in ice dancing. They performed with Stars on Ice in 2014. Programs Category:American figure skaters Category:Ice dancers Category:Junior Ice dancers Category:Novice Ice dancers Category:United States novice medalists Category:United States junior medalists Category:United States junior champions Category:World junior medalists Category:United States medalists Category:United States champions Category:Four Continents medalists Category:Four Continents champions Category:Grand Prix finalists Category:Grand Prix champions Category:World medalists Category:World champions Category:Olympic skaters Category:Olympic medalists Category:Olympic champions